At certain historic moments, grandparents took on childrearing responsibilities. In many cultures, they still do. Chinese grandparents who are able to retire at 55 are seen all over Beijing bouncing grandbabies. In the United States, we can't afford to retire at 55.

No one ever found wisdom without also being a fool. Writers, alas, have to be fools in public, while the rest of the human race can cover its tracks.

Divorce is my generation's coming of age ceremony - a ritual scarring that makes anything that happens afterward seem bearable.

we all carry the Houses of our Youth inside, and our Parents, too, grown small enough to fit within our Hearts.

The most important thing for a writer is to be locked in a study.

I am not sure if love is a salve or just a deeper kind of wound.

You must have a certain amount of maturity to be a poet. Seldom do sixteen-year-olds know themselves well enough.